Three new reform-minded IPS board members could help usher in sweeping changes to the school district. At the state level, however, school librarian Glenda Ritz denied Tony Bennett a second term as voters spurned his sweeping education overhaul.
A judge has ruled that a standard teacher contract form that would have allowed Indiana school districts to change the hours or days that teachers work without adjusting their pay is illegal.
Education reform in Indiana has come to a point where lawmakers need to find ways to attract more of the best and brightest into one of the most important of occupations, particularly as baby boomers retire.
An Indianapolis school district said Friday it suspended five teachers and another resigned amid an investigation into cheating on a state standardized biology exam at one of Indiana's largest high schools.
Gary Community Schools Superintendent Myrtle Campbell said the district needs to cut $11 million from its budget, and personnel is the biggest part of its spending.
Indiana's largest school district is planning to lay off 163 workers, including 94 teachers, largely because of the state takeover of four schools starting this fall.
A state panel has approved changes to Indiana's A-to-F grading standards for public schools despite complaints that the new rules are too complex for schools and parents to understand.
The leader of the Indiana House Education Committee said Tuesday a proposal specifically allowing public schools to teach creationism alongside evolution in science classes could be unworkable.
A Marion Superior Court judge affirmed Indiana’s school voucher law on Friday, rejecting opponents’ arguments that the largest such program in the nation unconstitutionally uses public money to support religion.
Indiana’s nearly 300 school superintendents are receiving more compensation than reported in their contracts, with extra payments for benefits such as health insurance counting toward their overall salaries for pension purposes, a newspaper’s investigation has found.
The dispute, which includes schools in Noblesville, stems from changes passed by the Legislature earlier this year limiting collective bargaining agreements between local districts and teachers’ unions.
High expectations set tone for Indianapolis Public School’s Harshman Middle School overhaul.
Education reformers dramatically outspent opponents on lobbying, advertising and grass-roots campaigning during the past legislative session.
The Indiana State Teachers Association is asking a judge to block state education officials from putting new teacher contract forms for the 2011-2012 school year into use.
The New York-based not-for-profit, which opened shop in Indianapolis in 2008, plans to train 100 teachers in the summer of 2012, up from 50 this year.
The Indiana State Teachers Association filed the lawsuit in Marion County on Friday seeking to block the state’s new school voucher law. Plaintiffs include teachers, school administrators, clergy and taxpayers.
Rising concerns about cheating on Indiana's standardized tests have prompted the state Department of Education to keep closer tabs on how the test is administered.
Legislation that expands charter schools in Indiana also could increase the number of teachers at those schools without licenses, making it easier for educators like Eric Nentrup to take non-traditional paths to the classroom.
Senate Bill 1, which takes effect July 1, will make teacher pay far more complex. To determine a teacher’s annual pay increase, school districts now can count experience and education as no more than 33 percent of the compensation equation.
Charters and vouchers may have sparked the loudest education-related protests before the Legislature this year, but changes to teacher evaluations are likely to have the biggest impact on Indiana’s public schools.
